Aim
The aim of this research is to focus on geography and its sub-disciplines with the intention of exploring how the nature of discipline shapes current and potential research data management practices and, in turn, how disciplines themselves are being reshaped by changes in data creation, use and management.
Design
The research is in two sequential phases. Phase 1 consists of a scoping stage which includes a web-based study using different techniques, such as link analysis and bibliometrics, and interviews with data management experts. Phase 2 is primarily based on a series of interviews with researchers, investigating researchers' research practices and attitudes of data management.
Findings
By the time of the conference preliminary results from phase 1 of the research will be available for reporting.
Value
This research will provide a better understanding of how the complexity of research data, and so the challenges for improving research data management, are grounded in the underlying nature of disciplines/sub-disciplines. As a by-product of this understanding, it will enhance the conceptual theory of disciplinarity through detailed analysis of changes around research data management in geography and its sub-disciplines.